Another big day for ’14 Navajo Nation elections
With computers on and papers stacked next to them, council delegates listen as Norman Bates speaks on behalf of Navajo Agriculture Products Industry Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009, at the council chambers in Window Rock. (Times file photo - Donovan Quintero)
WINDOW ROCK
Today is going to be another big day in the ongoing saga of the 2014 Navajo Nation elections.
The Navajo Nation Council is holding a special session to try to override a veto by Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly on a bill that would make the Navajo people, and not the courts, the authority on determining whether a candidate for president is fluent in Navajo.
This bill was introduced to pave the way for Chris Deschene, who has been disqualified by the Navajo Nation Supreme Court to run as a candidate for president in the 2014 race.
In order to override Shelly’s veto, the Council will have to do so by a two-thirds vote, or 15 members. The Council approved the original bill by a 11-10 vote.
Dave Jordan, the attorney for Dale Tsosie, who filed the original complaint against Deschene, has said that it’s too late for the Council to do anything for this election.
Shelly, when he vetoed the bill, pointed out that the resolution was illegal since the law prohibits passing laws that would affect only one person.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow